DAY 84
CHALLENGE
“Peter didn’t have a special role among the apostles. Paul doesn’t show him special respect in his letter to the Galatians. He even opposed Peter ‘to his face’ (Gal. 2:11).”
DEFENSE
On the contrary, his letter to the Galatians shows that Paul acknowledged Peter’s unique role in the Church.
Paul’s critics had apparently accused him of trying to please men by preaching a watered-down gospel that did not require circumcision. Thus he stresses that he is not trying to please men and that his gospel is not of human origin (Gal. 1:10–12).
He then recounts a series of incidents to illustrate his assertion. Peter figures in each incident.
First (Gal. 1:13–24), he recounts how after his conversion he did not consult with anyone, though “after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas [i.e., Peter], and remained with him fifteen days” (Gal. 1:18).
Second (Gal. 2:1–10), he recounts how he returned for the Jerusalem council, and when he did so the other apostles “saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for the mission to the circumcised worked through me also for the Gentiles)” (Gal. 2:7–8). He also notes that “James and Cephas and John . . . were reputed to be pillars” (Gal. 2:9).
Third (Gal. 2:11–16), he recounts how “when Cephas came to Antioch I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he ate with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. . . . But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?’” (Gal. 2:11–12, 14).
Each incident shows Peter’s unique role: Paul went to visit Peter, not the other apostles. Peter had a special mission to the Jews that paralleled Paul’s mission to the Gentiles. Peter was recognized as a pillar. And, in the ideal test case of whether Paul would bend the gospel to please men, Paul was willing to stand up even to the most authoritative Church leader: Peter.